


impulsive decisions that jared makes while unsupervised

by starzinoureyes



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Fluff, I know shocking, M/M, No Angst, but this is just happy dumb fluff, seriously this cat is smarter than he is, specifically of the jared is dumb variety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24290281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starzinoureyes/pseuds/starzinoureyes
Summary: jared accidentally gets a cat
Relationships: Jared Kleinman/Connor Murphy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	impulsive decisions that jared makes while unsupervised

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AgentMaryMargaretSkitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/gifts).



> birthday fic for kate! over the last couple months she has been the #1 supporter and advocate of my kleinphy with a cat headcanons (none of which have actually been published but i have multiple WIPs that involve this cat so) so i thought it was only fitting to finally write the origin of their baby :)

Jared didn’t actually remember making the decision.

Like, the idea had been bouncing around in his head for awhile, and he’d even talked it over with Connor—who had been less than receptive to the idea, to say the least—on a couple of occasions, but it was almost like a force of nature had pulled him to the shelter on his way to the grocery store.

He’d rationalized it to himself by saying that he was just going to take a look around; he had a few hours to kill anyways and there was no harm. It would be fun, and probably a nice stress reliever. Like how the school brought dogs in sometimes before exams, it was the same thing. Except cats are just objectively better so as far as Jared was concerned this all made perfect sense.

Things were going exactly according to plan, too. It was a slow afternoon and the girl at the front desk—Jared thought he recognized her from his stats lecture freshman year?—seemed all too happy to lead him into the back with the animals. Jared looked between the enclosures, and the girl—Nicole, according to her nametag—encouraged him to stick his hand out to pet them through the cage doors. He said hi to a couple dogs, and stopped to watch a litter of puppies climb all over each other.

“We just got them in this week,” she informed him. “You can play with one for a bit if you want.”

“Nah, more of a cat guy,” Jared dismissed. Speaking of which, the other end of the aisle seemed to be more his speed. He couldn’t help his dopey grin at the furry little things, most of which were just lazing around in stark contrast to the dogs he’d just passed. Yes, these creatures truly resonated with him.

He walked between the cages, about to ask if Nicole had a recommendation for which ones might want to play, when a little flash of yellow caught his eye.

A lot of people talked about that sort of thing, that connection when you meet the pet that’s  _ yours _ . Jared had never put too much weight on that, personally. Like, they all had personalities too, right? It seemed impossible to connect with an animal just based on sight alone. A bit like judging a book by it’s cover, right? But at that moment, with the bright green eyes staring back at him as though observing him right back, Jared knew he needed to meet that cat.

“Ummm...that one?” he asked, pointing over his shoulder to the orange tabby. “Could I…?”

“I’ll get her set up for you,” Nicole agreed. She led him to a smaller room, one set up for visits like this, and a moment later she was back with the cat Jared had identified, and set it down in front of him.

“She’s not very social,” Nicole warned him. Jared took a seat on the floor, across from where the cat was standing, still observing him. “Not all cats are, so if you’re looking for one that’s—”

“I’m not really looking for anything in particular,” Jared cut her off. “And my roommate would probably prefer it this way. He’s a bit like a cat. Except he’s big enough that he could actually kill me if I got in his personal space. So not as fun as a cat.”

“Her name is Delilah,” Nicole offered helpfully. Jared made a face at that. “You could always change it, if you’re really opposed. She’s pretty young, it wouldn’t take too long to retrain her to respond to another name. And she’s litter-box trained.” It sounded like she was going through all the required talking points, but Jared was hardly paying attention. It was a battle of wills, a staring contest between himself and the cat—who he would absolutely  _ not _ be calling Delilah thank you very much—as though the victor would control the direction of their encounter. Jared had never been on to back down from a challenge.

He sat still, watching her, mirroring her, fighting his every urge to reach out and grab her. Waiting for her to come to him.

“If you aren’t comfortable with this one…” 

Jared waved her off, and his patience was rewarded as the cat gave in—Jared could’ve sworn she rolled her eyes—and closed the distance between them, brushing against his knee and settling there. Jared smiled, scratching the top of her head and feeling pride swell up in his chest at the sound of her purr. 

“Hey there,” he greeted softly. “Wanna be friends?” She pushed her head against his hand and he took that as a sign of agreement. He picked her up, and she meowed a bit but didn’t squirm away so Jared couldn’t imagine she was too upset. He held her carefully in his arms like a baby, laughing at her disgruntled look at being manhandled like that, but she still didn’t try to get away. “You moved first pal, that means I call the shots from now on,” Jared murmured. “So if I wanna cuddle, that’s what’s happening. But like, consent and all, so if you wanna run away that’s cool too. Just like, I’d prefer if you didn’t.” She just stared up at him. Because cats don’t actually speak English, of course. Whatever, people talked to their pets, it wasn’t weird.

At which point Jared realized he was absolutely fucked, because there was no way he was putting her back.

Nicole had gone into a little side office to give them some space, Jared had noticed, but she was still in view, and he made a snap decision that was absolutely going to get him murdered by Connor but he honestly couldn’t have cared less at that moment.

“Hey, umm,” he got her attention hesitantly, carefully standing with the cat still cradled against his body. 

Nicole poked her head out. “Everything going okay in here?” she asked with a bright smile. 

“Yeah actually, umm...what would it take to, like, take her home?”

Jared caught the look of surprise on her face and he didn’t blame her one bit. That hadn’t at all been his intention in coming in here today, and he could hardly believe it himself, but he was so attached to this cat already he couldn’t imagine parting with her.

“Well, I can pull up the forms for you right now, and I’ll just need some information from you, to make sure she’s going to a good home,” Nicole explained, and Jared nodded.

“Do we need to put her back for that, or…?”

“I’ll bring everything in here,” she replied, a knowing smile on her face. He wondered if this happened a lot, people stumbling in here looking to kill some time and walking out with a new member of their family. Jared now realized he couldn’t imagine leaving someplace like this empty-handed. Anyone even considering adopting an animal would surely be swayed by just one look at these sweet faces.

Or maybe that was just Jared and this particular cat.

The forms were actually fairly straightforward, though they took a bit of extra time because Jared kept getting distracted at every little sound coming from the animal in his lap. He was completely obsessed, but Nicole was patient, and if Jared had known it was this easy he’d have done it ages ago.

Then came the hard part, where he had to part with her for a short time, because logistically he hadn’t prepared for this at all, and he wasn’t about to bring a cat into a grocery store—because Connor was going to be pissed as it was, he didn’t need to come home lacking what he had actually gone out for. So he made a quick trip to the pet store for a bed, some food and water bowls, a litter box, and some toys, then made his originally-scheduled grocery store run, adding some cat food and litter to the pile. Back seat full, he returned to the shelter where Nicole was waiting with his new baby, and Jared lit up at her pouty face in the travel crate the shelter was providing.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” he cooed, poking a finger in through the front. She just stared at him, completely unimpressed.

He loaded her securely into the front seat and made the short drive back to their apartment. Between the crate and all the bags Jared would need an extra set of hands, so he shot Connor a text (while knowing there was a ninety-five percent chance it would go ignored) once he was parked and made his way up to their second floor unit with the cat carrier in one hand and a few bags in the other.

Predictably, Connor was still sitting on the couch when Jared unlocked their front door, hardly reacting to his presence. A part of Jared debated just hiding the cat in the spare room for as long as he could, and then by the time Connor found out it would be too late to do anything about it and they could just move past it. But that was pretty shitty even for him, so he carried the groceries to the kitchen and got Connor’s attention once he was back in sight. 

“So I, um, have a surprise?” 

Connor blinked slowly at the TV before turning his head in Jared’s direction, already bracing himself for the worst. Connor was scarily good at reading Jared’s mood, it was one of the reasons they worked so well together, and clearly he could tell Jared was feeling guilty. It took a fuckton for Jared to feel guilty.

“What the fuck did you—”

Apparently the question answered itself when he saw the crate in Jared’s hand. He stared at it for a second, then up at Jared, then back down at the crate. Jared just stood there silently, awaiting judgement like a child waiting for their punishment after drawing on the walls.

“You got a cat,” Connor stated evenly.

“I did,” Jared confirmed.

“Why were you in a situation where you could potentially get a cat?”

“Okay, see, it started off as a good idea!” Jared rushed to explain. “I didn’t really have anything to do today, as you know, so i figured, why not stop by the animal shelter for a bit, say hi to some animals, kill a bit of time on the way to the grocery store.” Connor’s face remained intimidatingly stoic. “Right, so I got in there, and I was looking around, y’know, lots of different stuff. And I was probably just gonna leave, maybe play with a few for a bit, but then she was just  _ staring _ at me! Like, she was daring me to pick her, and so we took her out, and she just kept staring, but then she gave in and sat in my lap, and I couldn’t put her down after that, Connor, I had no choice! She chose  _ me _ !”

Connor stared at him for a few seconds, eyebrows raised in amusement, before he succumbed to laughter. “So lemme get this straight,” he wheezed. “You adopted a fucking  _ cat _ , because you thought it was  _ daring  _ you to?”

“Okay, well it sounds dumb when you say it like  _ that _ ,” Jared whined.

“It sounds dumb literally any way you try to justify it,” Connor sighed fondly, rolling his eyes.

“You don’t sound mad,” Jared observed cautiously. “Are you gonna make me take her back?”

“Of course you can’t take her back, the fuck? You can’t take an animal back to the shelter, do you know what sort of like...emotional damage that does to them?” Connor explained, and like, of course Jared knew that. He just didn’t expect  _ Connor  _ to know that, or to care.

“So we can keep her?” he asked hopefully.

Connor rolled his eyes again. “Yeah, fucking keep her. You’re taking care of her though. Like, it’s your cat. I’m not taking any responsibility for it.”

“Yes, yes of course!” Jared agreed quickly, giddily. He dropped the crate in the middle of the floor where he stood and opened the door, revealing her entire form and scooping her into his arms. “C’mon baby, let's go say hi to Connor!”

Connor did not look amused.

“Oh yeah, also, more groceries and...cat stuff in the car,” Jared added.

“And what would you like me to do about that?” Connor asked patiently.

“I would like you to help please?” Jared tried, pouting at him innocently, and trying to get the cat to mirror his expression. She did not look amused either.

Still, Connor sighed and got up, putting his shoes on to unload the rest of the groceries. Jared left the cat there in the living room and went to grab another load himself.

“Does she have a name?” Connor asked later, when they were both sitting on the couch watching TV, the cat sitting in Jared’s lap.

Jared made a face. “She had one. But we don’t speak of it. And the lady at the shelter said she’s young enough that she could adjust to a new name if we want. And we want.”

“So?”

“I dunno, you got any suggestions?” Jared asked, adding with a teasing grin, “seeing as how she’s your cat too.”

“She’s  _ not  _ my fucking cat, name her whatever you want,” Connor huffed.

“ _ Whatever _ I want?” Jared taunted.

“I honestly couldn’t care less.”

“What if I named her something dumb?”

“Given that it’s you, I would expect nothing else,” Connor replied coolly, gaze never leaving the TV.

“No, I mean what if it was something  _ really _ dumb?” Jared pressed. “Like. I dunno. Nacho. ‘Cause she’s yellow. Like nachos.”

Connor turned his head then, a challenging look on his face. Very similar to the cat, actually. Probably best he didn’t mention that, at least not until Connor had warmed up to her. “Even you wouldn’t actually name her that.”

“Oh, but I might,” Jared teased. “Actually, that sounds like a pretty badass name, if you ask me. Nacho.”

“Oh for fucks sake,” Connor groaned.

“No, you said I could name her whatever the fuck I wanted!” Jared accused. “You can't back out on that now!”

“Apparently I underestimated just how impossibly annoying you are,” Connor huffed. “I don’t care what you name her, but I feel like that borders on animal abuse.”

“I think Nacho disagrees,” Jared replied, holding the cat up to Connor’s face. “She seems to like it.” In reality, her expression hadn’t changed at all, but Jared and Nacho had a deep and spiritual connection, he knew what she liked.

“I will move out.”

“Would be a shame, but Nacho could just get her own room.”

“I can’t fucking believe...y’know what. Fuck it. I don’t care. Name her whatever you want,” Connor sighed.

“Nacho,” Jared stated.

“Fine, call the fucking cat Nacho. You’re the one who’s gotta live with it.”

Jared grinned mischievously and pulled Nacho back to his lap.

Connor could pretend all he wanted that he didn’t care about the cat, but Jared saw him play with her, sometimes. He would act casual about it, like it was no great inconvenience to him to just hold a string out while he read with the other hand, but Jared could tell he loved the attention. Like, possibly more than Jared did, and Jared  _ loved _ when Nacho would approach him unprompted. But Connor would fucking light up when she came within two feet of him, and the first time she climbed into his lap while he was watching TV Jared thought he might start crying. It was hilarious, and also kind of adorable.

He maintained that it was Jared’s cat, and that it didn’t make a bit of difference to him if she was around or not, but Jared knew better. And it made him so happy, that Connor truly seemed to love her as much as Jared did. Because she really was fucking special, and she deserved to live in a home where everyone treated her like a queen. Jared had promised himself that he would do exactly that when he’d brought her home, Connor just did it anyways. Jared was pretty sure she liked Connor better but that was fine, because he had that deep connection with her anyways. Like, his soul-cat, or whatever. She could cuddle with Connor all she wanted, nothing would change that fact. 

“I guess she’s kinda cute,” Connor admitted one night. The two of them were watching TV, Nacho—the name had stuck, because of course it had—dozing on Connor’s chest. It was her favorite place to be, other than hiding from them. It turned out Nicole hadn’t been kidding when she said that she wasn’t very social. Nacho tended to just sit in her bed all day. Watching them. Possibly plotting their demise. Or ready to scold should either of them fall out of line. If she wasn’t the size of a football it would be a bit unnerving, but it was just adorable, really. And when Jared or Connor did want her around, she never put up too much of a fuss, like she was doing them a favor by gracing them with her presence but ultimately she was never too busy to make time for the peasants.

“Kinda cute?” Jared scoffed. “She’s the light of your fucking life and you know it, Murphy.”

“That’s a bit dramatic,” Connor countered, but it didn’t really sound to Jared like a disagreement.

It always did funny things to his heart, watching Connor interact with Nacho. All kidding aside, she was important to him, and Connor was important to him too. And he could’ve dealt with the other boy remaining indifferent to whatever pets they acquired, but it was just so much better this way. She was  _ their _ cat. Something they shared. Something they bonded over. Something that transformed just the two of them into a little family, of sorts. That was pretty cool.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“For what?”

“For finding her,” Jared replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeah,” Connor sighed softly, smiling down at the breathing pile of fluff on his stomach and gently scratching the back of her neck. “Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> their relationship status was left intentionally vague bc they get this cat in every single universe regardless of when they get their shit together and date and i wanted this to just be a sort of catch-all that covers every universe i write!
> 
> i hope you liked it and happy birthday kate ily!


End file.
